The prospective builder for the historic Bosley mansion, the former Presbyterian Home for the Aged, has pulled out from their proposed project.
The original owner of the home was Dr. Grafton Bosley, one of the founders of Towson, who was instrumental in building the historic Courthouse and other significant historic buildings.
While in many cases the best use for an historic property its original or recent use, this proposed redevelopment would have destroyed 2 wings, including the historic 1930s one, along with most of the historic mansion. This would not have only been a loss to the integrity and authenticity of the property, it would also have had a dire environmental impact.
The greenest building is the one that already exists. Keeping historic buildings standing can help with curbing our Climate Crisis. By just renovating buildings, rather than tearing them down & building new ones, we can save natural resources from being extracted from our environment, thereby saving habitats from being destroyed, along with limiting carbon emissions for the construction process, and keeping construction debris from our landfills.
The proposal would have also caused the demise of many of the historic trees, including the beautiful & majestic Horsechestnut, pictured below. Not only would this have been devasting to the integrity of the historic landscape (emblematic of the park-like institutional complexes of the past, designed to aid in physical and mental healing), it would have destroyed large carbon-sequestering mature trees and hastened the area’s ever increasing Biodiversity loss.
We hope a less historically and environmentally impactful plan can be found for this important historic property.
We thank all the preservation-minded members of the community who have stood strong over the years to work to protect this significant property.
